Take Me Home - A Chuck Ending Rewrite
by nerdlife4eva
Summary: In the very last scene of Chuck, Sarah and Chuck sit on the beach where it all begin. What if you could know what they were thinking, not just what we could see? Hoping this ending brings peace to the hearts of Chuck-lovers, especially to my favorite Chuck-lover!


Author's Notes: Someone I care for was completely devastated by the ending of this show, but I saw it differently from him so I rewrote it. This is a basic one shot, taking place at the final scene of Chuck. This is my first fanfic and I am a little terrified of posting it, so please go easy on me! Thank you!

Falling out of the sky wasn't the worst feeling she had experienced. The feelings rattling inside of her, pulling at the back of her mind, swimming just beneath the surface of where she could reach was most certainly the worst feeling she had ever known. When Chuck held her as they danced, her body felt his touch as if it was a part of her. Every time he tried to tell her about the woman she had become, she felt the ache in her heart, the desire to remember all the details he gave her. With each time that she mistakenly held his gaze, she felt a shift inside of her, as if something was trying to open. She tried to shove it away, ignore it, because it was too painful to be so close to remembering and yet unable to reach past the final curtain. Each glimmer of memory, each flash of hope for the love of the man who so desperately wanted her to love were like a thousand knives to her heart. Living this way was overwhelming, knowing a piece of her was missing and she couldn't fix it with guns or fists, it was killing her a little more every day.

She walked away from him, left him with his heart in his hands and tears in his eyes. Sitting on the beach, she felt a part of her dying knowing that she couldn't go back. That part of her that wanted to run back to him, to throw herself into his arms and beg him not to give up on her was weeping. The part of her that was the spy, the trained to kill part, told her to box the emotions and store them, seal herself off from all possibilities of hope. Outwardly, she was quiet watching the waves in an attempt to make a decision about where life should take her next. As if she willed him into existence, he was by her side, sitting clumsily into the sand next to her.

"I was hoping you would be here," Chuck could barely maintain eye contact with her, praying he could talk to her without scaring her this time. Sarah, his wife, the woman he had fought with, and fought for, sat looking as lost as he had during their first talk on that same beach five years ago. He had stood at the bottom of the stairs getting his courage up to cross the sand to her side, finally letting the sheer power of love guide his way next to her.

"This place is important, isn't it?" Sarah had wound up on the beach almost by accident but the longer she had sat there, the more she knew that he would come for her. There were memories there, she could feel them in the same way she could feel the wind on her face, but she couldn't unlock them.

"Yeah, yeah, very much," Chuck struggled with his words wanting every word to count if these were the last words he was ever going to speak to her. "This is actually where you told me I was going to be okay. I could trust you. And that's exactly what I am doing now, asking you to trust me." Her beauty still overwhelmed him, in a very real way it had overwhelmed him every second since the day she walked into the Buy More. He would love her for the rest of his life, but it was time to let her know that he would let her go in honor of that love. "Sarah, I don't… I don't want anything from you. I just need you to know that wherever you go that I'll always be there to help you. Someone you can call whenever. Trust me Sarah, I am here for you always." Holding in tears, he felt his heart shatter.

The quivering ache around her heart refused to let the words escape from her mouth. This man she barely remembered provided her more comfort in simply sitting beside her than she could ever remember feeling. She didn't want him to let her go, but she didn't know how to stay. A desperation to remember, to feel, filled her chest with an emotional pain beyond any physical torture she had ever felt. "Chuck," she tried to bury the emotion, scared to give him any false hope in fear of igniting her own, "tell me our story." His smile broke straight through her heart and although she didn't want to hurt him, she could feel the smile on her face. If he could only understand how much she wished she could be everything he wanted her to be.

"Yeah, yeah, uh, where to begin?" When she smiled at him, he saw his Sarah. The darkness in her eyes was softer, the smile crooked instead of poised. He came to the beach to let her go, but now he felt his heart lift at the idea of one last chance. "Well, ah, it started with a guy who worked at Buy More…" He didn't look up to see her smile, unaware of how his stuttering reminded her of the bumbling nerd she met at the help desk five years ago. "And then one day an old college friend sent an email that was full of secrets. And then the next day his life really changed when he met a spy named Sarah. And he fell in love." Chuck remembered every detail of the first day she walked into his life, the brown jacket she wore, the perfect way her hair fell around her face. He had been an awkward mess and she still showed interest in him. It had been like winning the lottery and he had still felt that way when he learned that she wasn't really interested in him. Life had taken a chance on him then and he had taken a chance on love. From that day forward he had never fought harder for anything.

Sarah recalled his greasy hair and the way his tie had been just a little too short. And the pocket protector, she smiled with the small detail creeping back into her mind. It wasn't going to fix everything, but it was certainly a start.

It was impossible to pick and choose his favorite memories of the last five years. Every moment he spent with her was a moment where he felt truly alive for the first time in his life. He remembered how beautiful she was on their fake first date and how it had taken him almost a full year to get over the sight of her in the gold bikini Halloween costume. As he relayed these thoughts to her, he relished in her laughter unsure if she was laughing from memory or as an outsider amused by a story. He lied to himself convincing himself that reliving these memories wasn't killing him.

As he described the first time he thought they were going to have sex, her laughter was real. So was the embarrassment. He always made her laugh, made it okay for her to be awkward and unsure of herself. She could feel the embarrassment creeping in that could only be spawned by true memory, but somehow she was also beginning to feel the love through the humor he brought to even their most unconventional moments. Listening to his words, she thought there were memories of her own coming back, but in pieces. A kiss in his bedroom, a bracelet, another where they were soaking wet in their formal clothes. They were fragmented at best, but they were there. She wanted to catch each one and hold it for dear life.

Chuck kept going. With every laugh, his hope grew that his Sarah was in there. He told her about herself through his eyes, angel wings, belly dancing, every silly thing she had done, every awkward thing he had done. There were emotional memories too, but he was convinced if he could just keep her laughing, she would remember why she loved him. He couldn't help himself when he began to recall her telling him she loved him, rehashing his proposal to her in the hospital hallway, their wedding. These memories hurt him the most, but the tears in her eyes told him she was not completely disconnected. If she walked away now, he would surely be shattered. Sarah had taught him not to be scared, she had convinced him that he would be okay five years ago and he had believed her. Now, he could let her go, or he could put everything on the line for her, as she had done for him over and over. Looking away from her as she dried her eyes, Chuck took a leap of faith. "You know Morgan has this crazy idea…"

"What is it?" There was no hesitation in her question. The memories, the feelings, they felt so close to the surface now that he was near her. She wanted to break free from the walls of her mind, she wanted to be the woman of his memories, to put the pieces back together in her own mind. From what she could remember of Morgan, he was always crazy, but maybe following the sane path wouldn't save her this time.

Chuck knew that putting it on the table would discredit all of his earlier sentiments, but she looked so eager to hear it. "He thinks that with one kiss you would remember everything." It sounded so stupid once it was out in the open, yet the dreamer in him wouldn't let go of the possibility that maybe this time Morgan was right.

Could it be true? Sarah wasn't raised on fairytales, true love's kisses were not a part of her childhood, but she found herself wishing that they could be a part of her future. A future containing the man that sat next to her, pulling at her heart even though she couldn't exactly remember why. "One magical kiss?"

"I know it's…" He didn't even know what he wanted to say, but she never let him get it out.

"Chuck?" Sarah let her heart hope, something she was trained not to do, but couldn't help feeling.

"Yeah?" His heartbeat was drumming in his ears. The smile on her face was the same as it had been on their wedding day, the gleam in her eye was the same as the day she had watched him play with her little sister. If she denied him now, he would certainly run into the water and swim until the current swept him away.

"Kiss me." She let the words out before she could think. She wanted to feel again, wanted him to unlock the door and allow all those hidden pieces out. When he leaned in her breath caught in her throat.

The first time they kissed it was because she thought they were going to die. Now Chuck knew if he stopped kissing her and she pushed him away, he surely would suffer that fate. He felt the love and the passion in the same way he felt it in their first kiss and every kiss after. The tears were building in his eyes but he couldn't stop kissing her for fear that once it was over she would run. He placed his hand on the side of her face, cherishing the feeling of her skin under his fingertips. Wrapping his other arm around her, he ran his hand on her back. He was going to memorize every part of her in case this was it.

Sarah had kissed marks before and men that she thought she was attracted to, but nothing compared to kissing this man. Her body was tingling, her heart was soaring; her instant reaction to his lips on hers told her everything she needed to know. She felt a trickling of remembering, a kiss in front of bomb, a kiss on the floor of the restaurant, their first kiss as husband and wife. As those memories moved into her reality, she felt others tumbling out over them. The chaotic chatter in her mind, wave after wave of small moments colliding with one another, fueled her and she kissed him harder, pulling herself into him.

He felt the change in her kiss and his heart burst, ready to love and ready to sacrifice itself for that love. Pausing, a breath away from her lips, he whispered, "Sarah?" He couldn't look at her for fear that she wouldn't give him the answer that he wanted. He jumped when something wet hit his cheek. Pulling back, he looked at her terrified of what her tears meant.

The love came crashing back so hard that it had overwhelmed her more than any other feeling. She started to laugh, sobbing at the same time, and sounding something like an asthmatic seal. Not caring, she threw her arms around him, kissing his face in a brazen show of affection that was completely out of character. The elation she felt at the jumbled mess in her brain couldn't be explained in words. She no longer cared if she couldn't fit all the pieces together, that would come with time. What she could put together was her love for him and the absolute knowledge that with that love they could conquer any obstacle.

Chuck was terrified to push her. She was laughing and sobbing into his shoulder, soaking his shirt in tears. He wanted to know what she was thinking, was she clinging to him for comfort or for something else. Wrapping himself around her, he kissed her hair. "Sarah?"

Leaning back, she took his face in her hands. "Take me home, Chuck." She saw the tears spill out from his eyes. "Our home. I don't have it all yet, but I know that I love you, the rest is just details." Preventing his response, she kissed him, pouring every ounce of love she felt into the kiss to reassure him that she wasn't going to disappear this time.

Their tears mixed on his cheek as she kissed him. His Sarah. She loved him. She was coming home. Out of everything they had accomplished in five years, there was no greater feat than the act of falling in love. Standing, he gently pulled her up next to him, lacing his fingers in hers, "Let's go home, Sarah."

"That's Mrs. Bartowski to you," she laughed loving the way he smiled at her. Five years, countless missions, and all that mattered was the man holding her hand. And that's exactly how it should be.

Author's closing thoughts: That's it! Hope you enjoyed it, please let me know if you did! Thank you for taking time to read it!


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